Zombie, or as the Merriam Webster Dictionary defines it as the “Supernatural power that according to voodoo belief may enter into and reanimate a dead body.” The Word Zombie for many of us can spark a sudden sense of terror or fear. However, in the novel World War Z by Max Brooks the word zombie goes much further than the ordinary emotions of fear and terror.
****WARNING****SPOILER ALERT**** WATCH OUT****
Many questions arise in the resolution of the novel World War Z. “Couldn’t just one restart the plague all over again? And what about those who prowled countries above the snowline? How long would we have to wait for them? Decades? Centuries? Would refugees from these countries ever have a chance of returning home (266)?” The living dead had brought more than just devastation and death to the world. They’d knocked down the wall of the human spirit. Would it ever be possible to rebuild that wall? That is only up to us. In the exposition and rising action of the novel many could only understand that the zombie was the equivalent to an inevitable death. However, truly it was a battle of person vs. self. Would you let that wall of the human spirit crumble down into ruins and watch powerlessly as the world falls into a pit of fear? “We’d had to prove to ourselves that we could do it, and leave that proof as this war’s greatest monument, (267).” What did humans really need in order to keep together and fight? “Heroes, that’s what we were, that’s what our leaders wanted, that’s what our people needed,” (314). The human mind is the most powerful thing of all, and if you let it loose out of its borders you will bound to end up in ruins.
In the end of the novel World War Z, I was very satisfied with the resolution. It left the reader hanging on a cliff not knowing what was in store for the future. The Zombie Virus has slowly declined. The world has temporarily (Key word, temporarily) defeated the zombies, however there is a cost to the defeat. Many have been left with only memories of suffering from dawn to dusk not one day were they were able put their guard down. “I’d been afraid so long, fighting and killing, and waiting to die that I guess I just accepted it as normal for the rest of my life,” (342). The resolution of World War Z was to prove that the human spirit will always be able to get up on it feet after being knocked down. It is like a wall. It can be demolished, put into pieces, however, it we always build back up. Always.
samuelpblogger 